The Measurement of Bunch Intensity using the LHC BPM System

A convenient way of having beam bunch intensity information available all around the LHC ring is to use the beam position monitor (BPM) system. The principle is to add the BPM signals, process them and make the result compatible with the time-modulation method used for transmitting the position over a fibre-optic link. In this way the same acquisition system can make both position and intensity data available. This paper describes the technique developed and presents the first intensity measurements performed on the CERN-SPS and LHC