To evaluate the accurate performance and characteristics of turbomachinery, it is important to measure the unsteady flow phenomena downstream of the rotating blades. This paper presents the development of a fast-response total pressure probe and the necessary calibration procedure for the measurement of unsteady flow field at the exit of blades. The fast-response total pressure probe is fabricated by installing a sensor in the cylindrical head of the probe. In terms of simplicity of the measurement system and data reduction method, this method is more competitive over established methods that use multiple sensors. A novel scheme of using fast response probe and virtual instrumentation technology has been successfully implemented in the current programme in place of conventional measurement methods like five-hole probe, three-hole probe and hot wire anemometer. The experiment is conducted in an axial flow compressor using virtual instrumentation technology with components like signal conditioning system, A/D card, and TTL triggering circuitry. Further processing was done with the help of LabVIEW software. The objective of measuring the 2-dimensional flow at the exit of the rotor was achieved by a technique developed in the laboratory. The data are compared with steady state data and the match between the fast response data and steady data is quite good. © 2012, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.