Automatic control issues in the development of an artificial pancreas

Concerns the development, for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, of prototype robust control methodologies for an artificial pancreas that provides quantitative bounds on the required performance of sensors/actuators to be used in an artificial pancreas system. Such a system must address the following four issues: (1) The subject dynamic systems (a patient's glucose/insulin kinematics) are inherently nonlinear and poorly modeled relative to required performance levels. (2) The subject dynamic systems are subject to external disturbances that that are not under the authority of the control system (physical activity or food consumption by the diabetic patient). (3) The subject dynamic systems have limited actuator authority (insulin delivery rates are bounded and nonnegative) and may suffer from unreliable actuation (patient compliance). (4) Safe operation of the subject dynamic systems requires that system state Variables be kept within a prescribed operating range.