Baud rate, also known as symbol rate or modulation rate, indicates data transmission speed and is measured in symbols per second. Higher baud rates mean more data transmitted, and it can be calculated using the formula Baud = (Gross Bit Rate / Number of bits per symbol). Baud is named after French inventor Jean Maurice Emile Baudot.
Baud rate is a technical term associated with modems, digital televisions and other technical devices. It is also known as symbol rate and modulation rate. The term roughly indicates the data rate and is a derived value based on the number of symbols transmitted per second.
The units for this rate are symbols per second or pulses per second. Baud can be determined using the following formula: Baud = (Gross Bit Rate / Number of bits per symbol). This can be used to translate the baud into a bit rate using the following formula: Bit Rate = (Bits per symbol × Symbol Rate). Baud can be abbreviated using the short form “Bd” when used for technical purposes.
The meaning of these formulas is that higher baud rates equal more data transmitted, as long as the bits per symbol are the same. A system using 4800 baud modems which has 4 bits per symbol will send less data than a system using 9600 baud modems which also has 4 bits per symbol. So, other things being equal, a higher rate is generally preferred.
Mentioning the baud rate will often make older computer users nostalgic. When modems first became popular in the late 20th century, they tended to use telephone lines and were usually referred to at this rate. A new computer user may have started with a 20 baud modem, then upgraded to a 2400 or 4800 baud modem as technology advanced and prices came down. Extreme changes in infrastructure and advances in technology have caused data transmission devices to become both more varied and more powerful, and this has led people to generally use bit rate rather than baud to describe their speed.
The baud unit is named after Jean Maurice Emile Baudot, a French inventor and telegraph engineer. Baudot lived from 1854 to 1903 and is best known for developing the Baudot code and a telegraph printing system, which helped revolutionize telecommunications.
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