Lightweight Model Predictive Control intended for embedded applications

The computational demands of Model predictive control (MPC) are well known, and due to its internal constrained optimiser, historically has been ill-suited for embedded controllers designed to tackle high-speed applications. This paper explores the options of developing a low-cost lightweight MPC controller destined for micro-controller or FPGA architectures for modest applications demanding reasonable controller horizons. An object based MPC development tool is introduced and applied to an experimental 4-tank level system to explore the performance of the algorithm.