Millimeter-Wave Sensing of Diabetes-Relevant Glucose Concentration Changes in Pigs

The paper presents the first in vivo glucose monitoring animal study in a pig, which correlates radio frequency signal transmission changes with changes in blood glucose concentration in the 58–62 GHz frequency range. The presented non-invasive glucose sensing system consists of two opposite facing patch antennas sandwiching glucose-loaded samples. Prior to the animal study, the system was tested using saline solution samples, for which a linear relationship between changes in transmitted signal and glucose concentration was observed. In the animal study, glucose concentration changes were induced by injecting a known glucose solution in the blood stream. The non-invasive transmission measurements were compared to the glucose levels obtained invasively from the animal. Our results suggest that the system can detect spikes in glucose concentration in the blood, which is an important milestone towards non-invasive glucose monitoring.