ExactBench · Engineering calculators

Baud Rate Error Calculator

UART · integer divisor

Clock and baud

Baud rate error

-3.55
%
111111.1 baud actual vs 115200 requested

Tolerance

9.5 bit times to the stop bit
ERROR AGAINST UART TOLERANCE-5%-3%-2%0%+2%+3%+5%±2 % reliable-3.55%
Divisor (integer)9
Ideal divisor8.6806
Actual baud rate111111.11
Error-3.549 %
Drift at stop bit33.7 % of a bit time
Sampling clock1.78 MHz
VerdictWill not work reliably
How this works. A UART divides its peripheral clock down to produce a sampling clock, usually 16× or 8× the bit rate, then divides again by the oversampling factor. The divisor is an integer, so most clock and baud combinations cannot be hit exactly — the error is whatever the rounding leaves behind. What matters is not the error itself but how much it accumulates: the receiver resynchronises on each start edge, then samples the middle of each bit, so the worst case is the stop bit about 9.5 bit times later. Drift there must stay well under half a bit, which is where the familiar ±2 % rule of thumb comes from. Both ends contribute, so two devices each 2 % off in opposite directions is already 4 %.
This error is above ±2 %. It may work between two accurate endpoints and fail against a device with its own error in the opposite direction — pick a clock that divides more cleanly if you can.