A research team from IISc, Bengaluru, in collaboration with doctors from MS Ramaiah Medical College, has developed an artificial pancreas system. This can monitor and control blood sugar levels in real-time to help people with type-1 diabetes who need to take insulin regularly to avoid low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).

The Artificial Pancreas (AP) setup developed by Dr. Radha Kant Padhi, professor in the department of aerospace engineering and Robert Bosch Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems, mimics the body’s closed loop system that regulates insulin production. The setup has three parts, namely a sensor, an insulin pump, and an Android app.

The sensor is a small coin-like device with a tiny needle-like extension that is stuck to the skin like a patch or band-aid that will monitor the glucose concentration in the subcutaneous tissue continuously. The sensor is connected to an insulin pump that will infuse insulin under the skin. The pump is a small rectangular device that can be carried around in a pocket. Both the sensor and the pump are connected to the android app. The app analyses the data sent by the sensor and determines how much insulin should be pumped into the body through the insulin pump.

The key component of the app is the Model Predictive Control (MPC). This predicts how much insulin is required based on the sensor’s data and sends the signal to the insulin pump. This predictive nature makes MPC a good algorithm for the AP system since blood glucose levels of type-1 patients need to be continuously regulated.