2013 IEEE Conference on Systems, Process & Control (ICSPC2013), 13 - 15 December 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Implementation of FPGA based Model Predictive

Control for MIMO Systems
a
SajinGopi,b, *V.M. Vaidyan, and cM.V. Vaidyan
a, c
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Calicut
b
Department of Computer Engineering,
King Khalid University, Abha,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
*varghese86@gmail.com

Abstract—In conventional ways of fast responding and high performance.

performing model predictive control using Field Programmable
Gate Arrays (FPGA), the approaches developed are applicable
only to Single Input Single Output System (SISO). Many real
time systems are Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
systems and loop interaction is a major concern and has to be
reduced in control of MIMO systems. Also, direct digital control
with ability to solve the Quadratic Programming (QP) problem
online, which can be applied to complex systems with fast
response time and/or embedded applications and with limited
computational resource for supervisory control approach, is
required in many complex industrial MIMO systems. A novel
direct digital control of Model predictive controller with FPGA
for a MIMO system which considers and reduces loop interaction
and which can also be implemented with very less investment is
proposed here. The system was modeled from first principles and
then simulated in Labview environment for MIMO system.
Implementation of the system and response was verified for a
stirred tank system. The proposed system has good performance
in terms of reduction in loop interaction which is a major
concern in implementation of controller for MIMO systems. Also,
direct digital control of MIMO system instead of supervisory
control was accomplished.
Keywords: Predictive control, Field Programmable Gate
Arrays, Process Control
I. INTRODUCTION
Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is a suitable candidate
for high speed industrial control applications| [1]-[9]. Model
Predictive Controller has been implemented on FPGA due to
FPGA’s fast response and performance [10], [11]. But, the
main limitation in these approaches is that they are applicable
for only SISO systems. But, in real industrial applications
many systems are Multi Input Multi Output systems where
loop interactions are to be minimized 0[12]-[14]. Model
Predictive Control can be usually used for control of MIMO
systems as it takes model restrictions into account [15]-[26].
The ability to solve the Quadratic Programming (QP) problem
online become critical when applying MPC to complex
systems with fast response time and/or embedded applications
where computational resource may be limited. Implementation
of direct digital control of MIMO systems with MPC on
FPGA’s is critical for faster response control and higher
Labview-FPGA based approach was used for
implementing direct digital control and solving Quadratic
Programming (QP) problem online. Labview-FPGA is a
platform provided by National Instruments with which FPGAs
can be programmed using LabVIEW.
Rest of the paper is organized as follows. In Section
II, a brief review of the constrained MPC problem and
Dynamic Matrix Algorithm (DMA) is given. A MIMO-Stirred
tank process is explained in Section III. Rapid prototyping
environment developed for the MPC algorithm in FPGA
implementation is described in Section IV. The results of the
developed MPC are demonstrated in Section V for a MIMO
process. Finally, Section VI concludes the paper.
II. MODEL PREDICTIVE CONTROL AND
DYNAMIC MATRIX CONTROL ALGORITHM
Model predictive control is a very good option in control of
MIMO systems as it considers model restrictions.
The process to be controlled can be described by a
discrete-time, deterministic linear state-space model
represented as:
(1)
(2)
where X, U and Y denote state, control input and controlled
output.
Finding an optimum control input that can minimize
an infinite horizon performance measure is the main goal of
the control action. It is done as below:
∑ (3)
where the norm terms in the objective function are defined as
follows:
(4)
The assumption that all variables are written in terms of
deviations from a desired steady-state is implicit in the
representation. A proportional controller with a gain matrix
calculated from the solution of a matrix Ricatti equation is the
solution of the LQR problem.
(5)
In Dynamic Matrix Algorithm (DMA) control algorithm

978-1-4799-2209-3/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE 21

 2013 IEEE Conference on Systems, Process & Control (ICSPC2013), 13 - 15 December 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

considering the present state of the plant as the initial state, the 2.243e 006 2.243e 006
B
current control action is obtained by solving finite horizon of 0.01094 0
optimal open loop control problem 4876 0
C
The convolution model of the output of a plant is given as 4876 1.33
0 0
below: D
0 0
∑ ∆ (6) Step response of the above model shows that if the rate of
From the above relation, predicted output of the plant is as hot water flow is increased by a step then both the temperature
follows: of the water and height of water in tank increases
∑ ∆ 1 (7) exponentially. Also, if rate of cold water flow is increased by a
step, temperature of the water decreases exponentially and the
where U is the input and p is the prediction horizon,y he
mathematical model is very close to the defined system.
predicted output , y represents the actual output,.
From above relation, dynamic matrix is:
IV. PROTOTYPING ENVIROMENT FOR MPC IN
0 … 0
FPGA
0 … 0
(8)
A. Developed Programs for MPC implementation in FPGA
… for Stirred Tank Process.
So every time the output predicted is compared with the Block Diagram representation of the algorithm is given in
actual output computed from mathematical model and error is Fig. 1. The MPC program is developed in LABVIEW-FPGA
calculated. and is translated in to BIT file and implemented in Hardware.
So error can be given as: Fig. 2 shows the DMC algorithm developed in Labview-
9 FPGA. Algorithm for optimization of error developed in
10 Labview-FPGA is given in Fig. 3
:
:

Minimizing the overall error for every input is the goal of

the algorithm.
The Objective function can be defined as follows:
Objective function ∑ (11)
where, e is the error, p is the prediction horizon in the Fig 1 Block diagram representation of algorithm
i instant.
Input signals U are computed such that it will assure
minimum error signal in the prediction horizon region and the
predicted output will be very close to the actual input.

III. MIMO SYSTEM – STIRRED TANK PROCESS

A stirred tank system consists of one main tank and two

different types of liquid that will flow in to it. The mixing
operation will take place inside the tank. After mixing process
is over, water will flow out of it. One inlet pipe contains hot
water of temperature,T having flow rate, F .Other inlet pipe Fig 2 DMC algorithm developed in Labview-FPGA
contains cold water having temperature,T and flow rate,F .
Two parameters, level Hand temperature, T are defined for the
mixed water in the tank.
Two parameters are to be controlled, temperature of the
mixed water (T) and height of the water (H) level in tank.
Variables to be controlled are rate of flow of cold water,F and
rate of flow of hot water, F . The disturbances are Temperature
of the cold water, T and temperature of the hot water, T . The Fig 3 Optimization of error with Labview-FPGA
mathematical model of the tank system is computed from
above values of and the state space equation of the stirred tank B. Software simulation
system is as follows. To verify the performance of the MPC algorithm, its
0.008011 0 response is verified for step change in the process variable.
A
23.05 0.01431 Fig.4 shows the step response of the system for output

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 2013 IEEE Conference on Systems, Process & Control (ICSPC2013), 13 - 15 December 2013, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
variables, temperature and height if a step change in hot water
flow is introduced.
Fig.4 Step response of the output variables temperature and height for
a step change in hot water flow is introduced. As the variables in the
Dynamic Matrix Algorithm were assigned as integers, response has
minor quantization noise. But the controller has good performance in
terms of reduction of loop interaction which is a major concern in
MIMO systems.
C. Hardware in loop simulation
Hardware in loop test of the controller designed in FPGA is
done by simulating the plant in LABVIEW platform. For
verifying the performance of the setup a step change is given to
hot water flow and the response obtained is analyzed.
Fig. 5 Step response for hardware in loop simulation
Fig. 5 illustrates the output when a step change is given and
the time taken to reach that new set point.
V. TESTING THE MPC-FPGA IN STIRRED TANK
SYSTEM
To evaluate the performance of MPC in FPGA, it was imple-
mented for a stirred tank system. To verify the performance of
the controller, a step change was given to a set point and the
output response to that step change was verified.
Fig 7 Step response of output variable
Fig.7 indicates the response of two output variables in this
case height of the water level in the mixed tank (H) and
temperature of the water (T) in that tank. By using dynamic
matrix control algorithm control signal in Fig. 8 was generated
to overcome the effect of this disturbance. This generated
control signal is given back to the plant to bring back the
23
control variable to predefined values and for system to be
insensitive to disturbances.
Fig 8 Control signals
VI. CONCLUSION
Model Predictive Controllers using FPGA’s are conventionally
used in controlling Single Input Single Output Systems. But,
many systems in industrial applications are Multiple Input
Multiple Output Systems and have loop interactions. The
proposed novel approach of Model Predictive Controller using
FPGA uses a Dynamic Matrix Algorithm approach and solves
problems associated with control of MIMO systems with
FPGA. The performance of the approach was evaluated based
on the reduction of loop interaction which is a major concern in
MIMO systems. Results of testing on Stirred Tank system
show the system has good performance in terms of reduction of
loop interaction. The approach also achieves direct digital
control with ability to solve the Quadratic Programming (QP)
problem online and can be applied to complex systems with
fast response time and/or embedded applications where
computational resource may be limited for supervisory control
approach.
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