Diabetes is a disease that is now regarded as an epidemic in the world, and significant effort is being directed towards finding better ways to manage it. Keeping blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible leads to a substantial decrease in long-term complications of diabetes and can bring significant cost reductions associated with the disease. Traditionally, managing diabetes has involved intermittent monitoring of blood glucose and then administering an appropriate dose of insulin into the bloodstream. This method of intermittent monitoring and administration of insulin cannot ensure that blood glucose remains at near-normal levels at all times, and therefore, there is considerable interest in managing diabetes on a continuous basis.

The development of artificial organs and apparatus that regulate human blood glucose levels has been in progress since 1960. The aim was to measure blood glucose levels ex vivo and then inject an appropriate amount of insulin to the hyperglycaemic patient, thereby correcting the high glucose level. This aim of closing the "loop" is still being challenged by technological barriers even today, and progress is being made constantly both in overcoming these challenges and in understanding more about the workings of the glucose-regulatory system.

The purpose of this book is to introduce the field of closed-loop blood glucose control in a simple manner to the reader. This includes the hardware and software components that make up the control system. The hardware components involve the different types of glucose sensors (invasive, minimally-invasive, and non-invasive) and the different types of insulin.