Intensity and bunch length measurement for lepton beam in the injection lines of the SPS and LEP

We describe a system which is used operationally to measure the absolute intensity of single lepton bunches in a beam transfer line. It is based on the detailed knowledge of every single item of a complex measuring chain that comprises a beam coupler on one end and an acquisition system on the other end. This knowledge can be acquired by a well tested theoretical model and careful measurement of the transfer function of each processing module. A precision better than 3 % can be obtained and no external calibration is required. A value for the bunch length can be deduced from a spectral intensity measurement at two well chosen frequencies.