Sampling rate refers to the host PC and the USRP between the sample transfer rates, for B210, is through the USB cable sample rate, for X310, is through the gigabit network cable or million gigabit network sample rate, and for E310, Is the sample rate between arm and FPGA in the SOC chip.
Master clock rate refers to the sample-value transfer rates between the FPGA and the RF front-end, which is the sample rate between the FPGA and the AD9361 for B210 and E310, and for X310, the sample rate between the FPGA and the various types of RF sub-plates.
Master clock rate is not a new concept, in the early USRP products, such as USRP1, USRP2, USRP n2x0, there is also the master clock rate, but the class of the product's master clock rate is fixed, The only thing users can do is to configure different sampling rate via API interface. However, in USRP E310, B210, and X310, master clock rate is upgraded to be configurable via API interface, which differs from the fact that FPGA introduces the ability to perform interpolation/decimation of digital filters, as well as digital tuning, through these DSP operations, You can adjust the frequency of the oscillator to a different range.
The difference between sampling rate and master clock rate in USRP