FPGA-based Customizable IP Core for Kalman Filter

In this paper, we develop a flexible FPGA-based Kalman filter IP core design that can be customized to any system in order to provide faster and more reliable operation of the Kalman filter, which is often used in real-time applications. First, the Kalman filter algorithm is written in MATLAB environment. Then, FPGA submodules that perform matrix operations for the Kalman filter are designed with VHDL. The Kalman filter is implemented with the designed submodules. In our study, the whole design is made parametric so that it can be used in every system. The designed FPGA-based Kalman filter is simulated on a sample system model and compared with MATLAB results. The FPGA resource utilization, maximum clock frequency and Kalman filter iteration rate of the FPGA based Kalman filter are analyzed.