Model Predictive Control of glucose concentration in subjects with type 1 diabetes: an in silico trial

The feedback control of glucose concentration in type 1 diabetic patients using subcutaneous insulin delivery and subcutaneous continuous glucose monitoring is considered. A recently developed in-silico model of glucose metabolism is employed to generate virtual patients on which control algorithms can be validated against interindividual variability. An in silico trial consisting of 100 patients is used to assess the performances of a linear output feedback model predictive controller, designed on the basis of the in-silico model. More than satisfactory results are obtained in the great majority of virtual patients. The experiments highlight the crucial role of the anticipative feedforward action driven by the meal announcement information. Preliminary results indicate that further improvements may be achieved by means of a nonlinear model predictive control scheme.