A special sensor is proposed for magnetization measurement of superconductors with round cross section under pulsed transversal field. The sensor consists of a saddle shaped pick-up coil attached to the cylindrical superconducting sample, with a controlled geometrical distribution of the turns. The pick up coil carries out a two-dimensional flux integration and the software calculates the loop area in Joules. The sensor has been used during a campaign of ITER subsize conductor tests, showing an excellent agreement (better than 1%) with the results of boil-off calorimetric measurements. The detailed design, the algorithm and the test results are discussed in the paper. Other applications of this test method are proposed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.