diff --git a/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.cpp b/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.cpp
index 13cdb835ef7f..dd139cb4c868 100644
--- a/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.cpp
+++ b/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.cpp
@@ -180,27 +180,10 @@ namespace libcamera::ipa::ipu3 {
  * <linux/intel-ipu3.h> struct ipu3_uapi_gamma_corr_lut for further details.
  */
 
-/**
- * \brief Default constructor for IPAFrameContext
- */
-IPAFrameContext::IPAFrameContext() = default;
-
-/**
- * \brief Construct a IPAFrameContext instance
- */
-IPAFrameContext::IPAFrameContext(uint32_t id, const ControlList &reqControls)
-	: frame(id), frameControls(reqControls)
-{
-	sensor = {};
-}
-
 /**
  * \var IPAFrameContext::frame
  * \brief The frame number
  *
- * \var IPAFrameContext::frameControls
- * \brief Controls sent in by the application while queuing the request
- *
  * \var IPAFrameContext::sensor
  * \brief Effective sensor values that were applied for the frame
  *
diff --git a/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.h b/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.h
index 42e11141d3a1..193fc44a821a 100644
--- a/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.h
+++ b/src/ipa/ipu3/ipa_context.h
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
-#include <array>
-
 #include <linux/intel-ipu3.h>
 
 #include <libcamera/base/utils.h>
@@ -17,13 +15,12 @@
 #include <libcamera/controls.h>
 #include <libcamera/geometry.h>
 
+#include <libipa/fc_queue.h>
+
 namespace libcamera {
 
 namespace ipa::ipu3 {
 
-/* Maximum number of frame contexts to be held */
-static constexpr uint32_t kMaxFrameContexts = 16;
-
 struct IPASessionConfiguration {
 	struct {
 		ipu3_uapi_grid_config bdsGrid;
@@ -77,23 +74,19 @@ struct IPAActiveState {
 };
 
 struct IPAFrameContext {
-	IPAFrameContext();
-	IPAFrameContext(uint32_t id, const ControlList &reqControls);
+	uint32_t frame;
 
 	struct {
 		uint32_t exposure;
 		double gain;
 	} sensor;
-
-	uint32_t frame;
-	ControlList frameControls;
 };
 
 struct IPAContext {
 	IPASessionConfiguration configuration;
 	IPAActiveState activeState;
 
-	std::array<IPAFrameContext, kMaxFrameContexts> frameContexts;
+	FCQueue<IPAFrameContext> frameContexts;
 };
 
 } /* namespace ipa::ipu3 */
diff --git a/src/ipa/ipu3/ipu3.cpp b/src/ipa/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
index e37b2fa0f30e..5396b0704950 100644
--- a/src/ipa/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
+++ b/src/ipa/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@
 #include "algorithms/tone_mapping.h"
 #include "libipa/camera_sensor_helper.h"
 
+#include "ipa_context.h"
+
 /* Minimum grid width, expressed as a number of cells */
 static constexpr uint32_t kMinGridWidth = 16;
 /* Maximum grid width, expressed as a number of cells */
@@ -205,6 +207,10 @@ void IPAIPU3::updateSessionConfiguration(const ControlInfoMap &sensorControls)
 	int32_t minGain = v4l2Gain.min().get<int32_t>();
 	int32_t maxGain = v4l2Gain.max().get<int32_t>();
 
+	/* Clear the IPA context before the streaming session. */
+	context_.frameContexts.clear();
+	context_ = {};
+
 	/*
 	 * When the AGC computes the new exposure values for a frame, it needs
 	 * to know the limits for shutter speed and analogue gain.
@@ -382,6 +388,7 @@ int IPAIPU3::start()
  */
 void IPAIPU3::stop()
 {
+	context_.frameContexts.clear();
 }
 
 /**
@@ -488,11 +495,6 @@ int IPAIPU3::configure(const IPAConfigInfo &configInfo,
 
 	calculateBdsGrid(configInfo.bdsOutputSize);
 
-	/* Clean IPAActiveState at each reconfiguration. */
-	context_.activeState = {};
-	IPAFrameContext initFrameContext;
-	context_.frameContexts.fill(initFrameContext);
-
 	if (!validateSensorControls()) {
 		LOG(IPAIPU3, Error) << "Sensor control validation failed.";
 		return -EINVAL;
@@ -603,7 +605,7 @@ void IPAIPU3::processStatsBuffer(const uint32_t frame,
 	const ipu3_uapi_stats_3a *stats =
 		reinterpret_cast<ipu3_uapi_stats_3a *>(mem.data());
 
-	IPAFrameContext &frameContext = context_.frameContexts[frame % kMaxFrameContexts];
+	IPAFrameContext &frameContext = context_.frameContexts.get(frame);
 
 	if (frameContext.frame != frame)
 		LOG(IPAIPU3, Warning) << "Frame " << frame << " does not match its frame context";
@@ -652,7 +654,11 @@ void IPAIPU3::processStatsBuffer(const uint32_t frame,
 void IPAIPU3::queueRequest(const uint32_t frame, const ControlList &controls)
 {
 	/* \todo Start processing for 'frame' based on 'controls'. */
-	context_.frameContexts[frame % kMaxFrameContexts] = { frame, controls };
+	IPAFrameContext &frameContext = context_.frameContexts.initialise(frame);
+
+	/* \todo Implement queueRequest to each algorithm. */
+	(void)frameContext;
+	(void)controls;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/ipa/libipa/fc_queue.cpp b/src/ipa/libipa/fc_queue.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a69579290043
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ipa/libipa/fc_queue.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later */
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2022, Google Inc.
+ *
+ * fc_queue.cpp - IPA Frame context queue
+ */
+
+#include "fc_queue.h"
+
+#include <libcamera/base/log.h>
+
+namespace libcamera {
+
+LOG_DEFINE_CATEGORY(FCQueue)
+
+namespace ipa {
+
+/**
+ * \file fc_queue.h
+ * \brief Queue to access per-frame Context
+ */
+
+/**
+ * \class FCQueue
+ * \brief A support class for queueing FrameContext instances through the IPA
+ * \tparam FrameContext The IPA specific FrameContext derived class type
+ *
+ * The frame context queue provides a simple circular buffer implementation to
+ * store IPA specific context for each frame through its lifetime within the
+ * IPA.
+ *
+ * FrameContext instances are expected to be referenced by a monotonically
+ * increasing sequence count corresponding to a frame sequence number.
+ *
+ * A FrameContext is initialised for a given frame when the corresponding
+ * Request is first queued into the IPA. From that point on the FrameContext can
+ * be obtained by the IPA and its algorithms by referencing it from the frame
+ * sequence number.
+ *
+ * A frame sequence number from the image source must correspond to the request
+ * sequence number for this implementation to be supported in an IPA. It is
+ * expected that the same sequence number will be used to reference the context
+ * of the frame from the point of queueing the request, specifying controls for
+ * a given frame, and processing of any ISP related controls and statistics for
+ * the same corresponding image.
+ *
+ * IPA specific frame context implementations shall inherit from the
+ * IPAFrameContext base class to support the minimum required features for a
+ * FrameContext.
+ *
+ * FrameContexts are overwritten when they are recycled and re-initialised by
+ * the first access made on them by either initialise(frame) or get(frame). It
+ * is required that the number of available slots in the frame context queue is
+ * larger or equal to the maximum number of in-flight requests a pipeline can
+ * handle to avoid overwriting frame context instances that still have to be
+ * processed.
+ *
+ * In the case an application does not queue requests to the camera fast
+ * enough, frames can be produced and processed by the IPA without a
+ * corresponding Request being queued. In this case the IPA algorithm
+ * will try to access the FrameContext with a call to get() before it
+ * had been initialized at queueRequest() time. In this case, there
+ * is no way the controls associated with the late Request could be
+ * applied in time, as the frame as already been processed by the IPA.
+ *
+ * \todo Set an error flag for per-frame control errors.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * \fn FCQueue::clear()
+ * \brief Clear the context queue
+ *
+ * Reset the queue and ensure all FrameContext slots are re-initialised.
+ * IPA modules are expected to clear the frame context queue at the beginning of
+ * a new streaming session, in IPAModule::start().
+ */
+
+/**
+ * \fn FCQueue::initialise(uint32_t frame)
+ * \brief Initialize and return the Frame Context at slot specified by \a frame
+ * \param[in] frame The frame context sequence number
+ *
+ * The first call to obtain a FrameContext from the FCQueue should be handled
+ * through this call. The FrameContext will be initialised for the frame and
+ * returned to the caller if it was not already initialised.
+ *
+ * If the FrameContext was already initialized for this sequence, a warning will
+ * be reported and the previously initialized FrameContext is returned.
+ *
+ * Frame contexts are expected to be initialised when a Request is first passed
+ * to the IPA module in IPAModule::queueRequest().
+ *
+ * \return A reference to the FrameContext for sequence \a frame
+ */
+
+/**
+ * \fn FCQueue::get()
+ * \brief Obtain the Frame Context at slot specified by \a frame
+ * \param[in] frame The frame context sequence number
+ *
+ * Obtains an existing FrameContext from the queue and returns it to the caller.
+ *
+ * If the FrameContext is not correctly initialised for the \a frame, it will be
+ * initialised.
+ *
+ * \return A reference to the FrameContext for sequence \a frame
+ */
+
+} /* namespace ipa */
+
+} /* namespace libcamera */
diff --git a/src/ipa/libipa/fc_queue.h b/src/ipa/libipa/fc_queue.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5966817ce673
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ipa/libipa/fc_queue.h
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later */
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2022, Google Inc.
+ *
+ * fc_queue.h - IPA Frame context queue
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <array>
+
+#include <libcamera/base/log.h>
+
+namespace libcamera {
+
+LOG_DECLARE_CATEGORY(FCQueue)
+
+namespace ipa {
+
+/*
+ * Maximum number of frame contexts to be held onto
+ *
+ * \todo Should be platform-specific and match the pipeline depth
+ */
+static constexpr uint32_t kMaxFrameContexts = 16;
+
+template<typename FrameContext>
+class FCQueue : private std::array<FrameContext, kMaxFrameContexts>
+{
+private:
+	void initialise(FrameContext &frameContext, const uint32_t frame)
+	{
+		frameContext = {};
+		frameContext.frame = frame;
+	}
+
+public:
+	void clear()
+	{
+		this->fill({});
+	}
+
+	FrameContext &initialise(const uint32_t frame)
+	{
+		FrameContext &frameContext = this->at(frame % kMaxFrameContexts);
+
+		/*
+		 * Do not re-initialise if a get() call has already fetched this
+		 * frame context to preseve the context.
+		 *
+		 * \todo If the the sequence number of the context to initialise
+		 * is smaller than the sequence number of the queue slot to use,
+		 * it means that we had a serious request underrun and more
+		 * frames than the queue size has been produced since the last
+		 * time the application has queued a request. Does this deserve
+		 * an error condition ?
+		 */
+		if (frame != 0 && frame <= frameContext.frame)
+			LOG(FCQueue, Warning)
+				<< "Frame " << frame << " already initialised";
+		else
+			initialise(frameContext, frame);
+
+		return frameContext;
+	}
+
+	FrameContext &get(uint32_t frame)
+	{
+		FrameContext &frameContext = this->at(frame % kMaxFrameContexts);
+
+		/*
+		 * If the IPA algorithms try to access a frame context slot which
+		 * has been already overwritten by a newer context, it means the
+		 * frame context queue has overflowed and the desired context
+		 * has been forever lost. The pipeline handler shall avoid
+		 * queueing more requests to the IPA than the frame context
+		 * queue size.
+		 */
+		if (frame < frameContext.frame)
+			LOG(FCQueue, Fatal) << "Frame Context for " << frame
+					    << " has been overwritten by "
+					    << frameContext.frame;
+
+		if (frame == frameContext.frame)
+			return frameContext;
+
+		/*
+		 * The frame context has been retrieved before it was
+		 * initialised through the initialise() call. This indicates an
+		 * algorithm attempted to access a Frame context before it was
+		 * queued to the IPA.  Controls applied for this request may be
+		 * left unhandled.
+		 *
+		 * \todo Set an error flag for per-frame control errors.
+		 */
+		LOG(FCQueue, Warning)
+			<< "Obtained an uninitialised FrameContext for " << frame;
+
+		initialise(frameContext, frame);
+
+		return frameContext;
+	}
+};
+
+} /* namespace ipa */
+
+} /* namespace libcamera */
diff --git a/src/ipa/libipa/meson.build b/src/ipa/libipa/meson.build
index fb894bc614af..016b8e0ec9be 100644
--- a/src/ipa/libipa/meson.build
+++ b/src/ipa/libipa/meson.build
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 libipa_headers = files([
     'algorithm.h',
     'camera_sensor_helper.h',
+    'fc_queue.h',
     'histogram.h',
     'module.h',
 ])
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ libipa_headers = files([
 libipa_sources = files([
     'algorithm.cpp',
     'camera_sensor_helper.cpp',
+    'fc_queue.cpp',
     'histogram.cpp',
     'module.cpp',
 ])
