A QP Solver Implementation for Embedded Systems Applied to Control Allocation

Abstract

Quadratic programming problems (QPs) frequently appear in control engineering. For use on embedded platforms, a QP solver implementation is required in the programming language C. A new solver for quadratic optimization problems, EmbQP, is described, which was implemented in well readable C code. The algorithm is based on the dual method of Goldfarb and Idnani and solves strictly convex QPs with a positive definite objective function matrix and linear equality and inequality constraints. The algorithm is outlined and some details for an efficient implementation in C are shown, with regard to the requirements of embedded systems. The newly implemented QP solver is demonstrated in the context of control allocation of an over-actuated vehicle as application example. Its performance is assessed in a simulation experiment.