A field-programmable gate array implementation of a real-time nonlinear Runge–Kutta model predictive control

This paper presents the very first field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of the Runge-Kutta model predictive control (RKMPC) mechanism to the real-time experimental electromagnetic levitation system, which is an unstable nonlinear continuous-time system with a very small time constant. In the control mechanism, the so called Runge-Kutta model of the nonlinear system is employed as an approximate discrete-time model of the system and used in the model predictive control loop for prediction and derivative calculation purposes. Experimental results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed implementation under different control conditions. Moreover, the RKMPC has been compared to a conventional nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) method to show the advantages of the RKMPC over the NMPC.