Electronic throttle control using model predictive control

A throttle control system for a vehicle, comprising:

• a throttle valve connected to and actuated by an electric motor, the throttle valve having a non-linear response over an operating range having multiple different regions;
• multiple controllers in communication with the electric motor and programmed to actuate the electric motor and thereby to control the throttle valve, each of the controllers assigned to one of the multiple different regions of the operating range;
• an electronic control circuit in communication with the electric motor of the throttle valve programmed to vary an amount of fuel provided to individual cylinders of an engine based on a torque request signal, the electronic control circuit generating multiple target values for a throttle position of the throttle valve to generate a target electronic throttle position for each of the regions of the operating range;
• and
• a selection circuit in communication with the electronic control circuit programmed to select one of multiple possible sequences of the multiple target values based on a cost of each of the possible sequences and programmed to select one of the multiple controllers to control the electric motor of the throttle valve in one of the different regions based on the cost.