A measurement system specially used in wind turbine fatigue load assessment is developed based on Labview platform and Control Area Network (CAN). By applying CAN bus communication technology, the system can perform data automatic acquisition, data stable transmission and data real-time monitoring. By adopting the technology of virtual instrument modular design, the system is designed to analyze the wind turbine mechanical load levels against wind and power, equivalent loads and lifetime fatigue loads, etc. Considering the effects of small load strengthening, low amplitude load damaging and multilevel load interaction, a novel fatigue lifetime prediction model is proposed to obtain more accurate and reliable prediction of blade fatigue life. With the developed measurement system, the in-field load measurements are performed and the results showed the system has satisfactory accuracy and good adaption, convenient operation, high integration, low cost and great practicality to load measurement of large wind turbine. And based on the proposed model the fatigue life of WT blade can be estimated more trustworthily and reliably. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.