Baud

In telecommunication and electronics, baud (bɔːd; symbol: Bd) is a common unit of measurement of symbol rate, which is one of the components that determine the speed of communication over a data channel. It is the unit for symbol rate or modulation rate in symbols per second or pulses per second. It is the number of distinct symbol changes (signalling events) made to the transmission medium per second in a digitally modulated signal or a bd rate line code. Baud is related to gross bit rate, which can be expressed in bits per second. If there are precisely two symbols in the system (typically 0 and 1), then baud and bit per second (bit/s) are equivalent. The baud unit is named after Émile Baudot, the inventor of the Baudot code for telegraphy, and is represented according to the rules for SI units. That is, the first letter of its symbol is uppercase (Bd), but when the unit is spelled out, it should be written in lowercase (baud) except when it begins a sentence. It was defined by the CCITT (now the ITU) in November 1926. The earlier standard had been the number of words per minute, which was a less robust measure since word length can vary. The symbol duration time, also known as the unit interval, can be directly measured as the time between transitions by looking at an eye diagram of the signal on an oscilloscope. The symbol duration time Ts can be calculated as: where fs is the symbol rate. There is also a chance of miscommunication which leads to ambiguity. Example: Communication at the baud rate 1000 Bd means communication by means of sending 1000 symbols per second. In the case of a modem, this corresponds to 1000 tones per second; similarly, in the case of a line code, this corresponds to 1000 pulses per second. The symbol duration time is 1/1000 second (that is, 1 millisecond). In digital systems (i.e., using discrete/discontinuous values) with binary code, 1 Bd = 1 bit/s. By contrast, non-digital (or analog) systems use a continuous range of values to represent information and in these systems the exact informational size of 1 Bd varies.