Baud

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What Does Baud Mean?

Baud (Bd) is a data transmission unit that shows how many signaling elements or symbol changes (electronic state change) are sent per second in a line code or a digitally modulated signal. It is not the measure of data transfer speed, but the measure of modulation. This should not be confused with the actual gross data transfer rate, which is expressed in bits per second. Although the two are related, they are not equal.

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Techopedia Explains Baud

Baud rate is the measure of how much the electronic state changes per second. Each state change involves more than a single bit of data, so it cannot be equal to bits per second. Baud is represented as an SI unit, so the first letter is written in uppercase (Bd). The unit is named after Emile Baudot, the inventor of the Baudot code used in telegraphy.

Baud has been misunderstood as being equal to bit rate because these two rates are the same in older modems and simple communication links that use only one bit per symbol. In this case, each state change is only represented as a one or a zero, making Baud rate and bit rate equal. Modern electronic transmission techniques have more than two states and may represent more than one bit.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.