Sampled-Data Static Output Feedback Control of the Glucose-Insulin System

In this paper, the plasma glucose regulation problem for Type 2 diabetic patients is studied. A nonlinear time-delay model of the glucose-insulin regulatory system is exploited in order to design a sampled-data static output feedback control, which makes use of only sampled glucose measurements. It is shown that the proposed control law is a stabilizer in the sampled-and-hold sense. The presence of a state-delay in the model prevents the availability in the buffer of suitable needed past values of the glucose. Such a drawback is overcome by means of spline interpolation. A pre-clinical validation, concerning the performances of the proposed glucose control law, is carried out by means of a well known simulator of diabetic patients broadly accepted for testing insulin infusion therapies. Simulations results are encouraging for further evaluation.