Exhaust aftertreatment thermal management controls

One exemplary embodiment is a method of operating a system comprising an internal combustion engine system, and an exhaust aftertreatment system comprising an SCR catalyst, and an electronic control system. The method comprises operating the electronic control system to perform the acts of determining a predicted temperature value indicative of a predicted future temperature of the SCR catalyst, determining a temperature profile value using the predicted temperature value and a current temperature value indicative of a current temperature of the SCR catalyst, operating a controller to provide an output indicating a difference between the temperature profile value and a temperature target, determining a heat request using the output of the controller, filtering the heat request using a prediction horizon, and controlling operation of the engine system using the filtered heat request to increase a temperature of the SCR catalyst.