What Is Baud Rate?
Baud rate is the number of symbol changes (signaling events) per second on a communication channel, while bit rate is the number of bits transmitted per second. The two are equal only when each symbol carries exactly one bit.
Modulation schemes that encode several bits per symbol — such as QAM or PAM — transmit multiple bits with each symbol, so the baud rate is lower than the bit rate. The relationship is that bit rate equals baud rate times the bits per symbol, so dividing the bit rate by the bits per symbol gives the symbol (baud) rate. Baud is measured in baud (Bd), where 1 Bd is one symbol per second.
Formula
Baud rate (Bd) = Bit rate (bps) ÷ Bits per symbol
Applications
- Configuring UART and modem links with the correct baud rate
- Comparing bit rate and symbol rate in digital modulation
- Estimating the channel bandwidth needed for a data throughput
- Interpreting datasheets for radio and network transceivers
- Teaching the difference between bits per second and baud
Sources
- Tanenbaum, A. S., & Wetherall, D. J. (2021). Computer Networks (6th ed.). Pearson.