In order to diagnose the osteoporosis, a quantitative ultrasound system (QUS) for estimating the osteoporosis status was designed in this paper. By measuring the sound of speed (SOS) and broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) in calcaneus, this system can evaluate the osteoporosis status which provides a scientific basis for the early diagnosis of osteoporosis and even the prevention of bone fracture. The hardware circuits of QUS were developed on the 89c52 MCU platform, which realized the functions of ultrasound transmitting and receiving, high-speed data acquisition and communication, and stepper motor driving. The software of this system was developed by Visual C# and Matlab, which realized the functions of user management, ultrasound data acquisition and analysis, detection results storage and printout. Finally, a comparison experimental investigation was compared with SONOST-3000. The results showed that the detection precision of osteoporosis status was comparatively accurate, and the performance of this system meet the expected requirements.