Real-time model predictive control based on dual gradient projection: Theory and fixed-point FPGA implementation

This paper proposes a method to design robust model predictive control (MPC) laws for discrete-time linear systems with hard mixed constraints on states and inputs, in case of only an inexact solution of the associated quadratic program is available, because of real-time requirements. By using a recently proposed dual gradient-projection algorithm, it is proved that the discrepancy of the optimal control law as compared with the obtained one is bounded even if the solver is implemented in fixed-point arithmetic. By defining an alternative MPC problem with tightened constraints, a feasible solution is obtained for the original MPC problem, which guarantees recursive feasibility and asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system with respect to a set including the origin, also considering the presence of external disturbances. The proposed MPC law is implemented on a field-programmable gate array in order to show the practical applicability of the method.