Estimation of Blood Glucose by Non Invasive Technique
Anshuman Sahana, Dr. A. Rathinam, Harshvardhan Nagelia, Abhijeet Ghodgaonkar
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
SRM University, Chennai
Abstract – Diabetes is a metabolic pathological
condition, which affects important organs of
human body if not diagnosed and treated on
correct time. Nowadays glucose measurements
methods are invasive which generally involves
puncturing finger. These methods are painful
and has difficulties of spreading infectious
diseases. Therefore, there is need of developing a
non-invasive monitoring system which measures
blood glucose without any pain. The proposed
method is based on the direct effect of glucose on
the scattering properties of the organ. Glucose
decreases the mismatch in refractive index
between scatters and their surrounding media,
leading to a small scattering coefficient and,
consequently, a shorter optical path. The
reduction in scattering is due to an increase in
glucose concentration. As a result, with the
growing concentration of glucose, fewer photons
are absorbed and the light intensity increases. In
the present work, we have used PPG technique.
An algorithm was developed from the PPG data
for monitoring blood glucose.
Index Terms – Non-Invasive, Blood Glucose,
Photo plethysmograph.
[1] INTRODUCTION
Diabetes is emerged as a major healthcare problem
in India. Today approximately 8.32% of global adult
population is suffering from diabetes. Diabetes
mellitus is a medical concern in which the body is
not producing the quantity or the quality of insulin
needed to maintain the normal blood glucose in the
body. Insulin is the hormone in the human body that
enables glucose to enter the body cells to get energy.
The technologies available in the market for blood
glucose measurement are invasive. Invasive
methods are painful, time consuming, expensive and
also there is a potential risk of spreading disease like
Hepatitis and HIV. The noninvasive techniques
offer several advantages of no exposure to sharp
objects and biohazard materials, the absence of pain,
increased frequency of testing and tighter control of
the glucose concentrations. Near-IR (NIR) is one of
the most widely recommended optical region
because of its high penetration in skins.
Measurement of blood glucose in a painless and
non-invasive manner involves passing a selected
beam of wavelength of near-infrared light through
the human tissue. The suitable NIR band of 940nm
wavelength for glucose absorption is identified.
[2] METHODOLOGY
In order to overcome the difficulties of invasive
blood glucose measurements the concept of non-
invasive blood glucose measurements arises. Here
the non-invasive blood glucose device is developed
using the optical techniques. The optical technique
used here is the NIR due to its high penetration in
skin. When a light ray interacts with human body
tissue, it gets attenuated by scattering as well as by
absorption by the tissues. Beer- Lambert Law plays
a major role in absorbance measurement which
states the absorbance of light through any solution is
in proportion with the concentration of the solution
and length path travelled by the light rays.
A. Photoplethysmography (PPG)
Most of the soft tissues will transmit both infrared
and visible radiation to some extent, even though
human body is blurred to light transmission.
Amount of light is transmitted through whole hand,
if the hand is put-off the end of light in the dark
room. The transmitted light is absorbed and
reflected, and scattered by the tissues and blood. By
placing the light source usually in the range of
700nm to 2500nm on one side of the skin and
detector on the other side. Plethysmograph measures
changes in volume. The only method to measure
absolute changes in blood volume accurately in the
extremities by using chamber-plethysmography.
The volume change can be converted into blood
flow by using F=dV/dt. This method is also called
as transmission mode Photoplethysmograpy.

Figure 1. Transmission mode photoplethysmograph
Figure 2. AC & DC components of PPG signal
The AC and DC components of PPG signal obtained
from a biological tissue (fingertip) is shown above.
The amplitude of constant voltage offset of the DC
component can be determined by the nature of the
material through which the light passes. The AC or
pulsatile component, which is synchronous with the
heart rate, is depending on the arterial blood volume
pulse. The shape of the AC signal is indicative of
cardiac performance and vessel compliance. The
amplitude of AC component has 1-2% of the DC
value. By using non-invasive device like
Photoplethysmograph (PPG), one can monitor the
heartbeat by means of differences in light absorption
during systole and diastole of blood pumping. Non-
invasive measurement of blood glucose is done by
focusing a beam of light on the finger and analysing
the light after transmission through the finger
segment. The absorbance of light by skin is
depended upon various components in the bloodlike
water, haemoglobin, fat and glucose. But
absorbance of light by these components strongly
depends on the wavelength of light which is
transmitted. At a particular wavelength, the bond
between the atoms of components vibrates and
absorbs the light. The glucose content of the blood
can be calculated by measuring the infrared light
transmitted through the thin part of body segment
(usually fingertip). With less Glucose concentration,
the light ray travels long optical paths and more
scattering of light occurs and results in less peak. In
the case of more glucose present in the blood vessel,
light requires less optical paths due to less scattering.
This results higher peaks in the output. An increase
in transmitted light intensity in accordance with
glucose concentration can be achieved. The
developed setup utilises the attenuation of light at
different wavelengths where absorption of light
varies with the sugar content in the blood.
Figure 3. Schematic description of the influence of
glucose on light propagation (a) with less glucose
(b) with more glucose in the blood
B. Principle
The basic principle behind the blood glucose
measurement is that glucose in the blood absorbs
infrared light many times more strongly than the
remaining skin tissue. About 15% is absorbed by
epidermis. In the presence of dark light as
background, skin tissue without blood they appear
as dark lines so that full blood vessel reflects
approximately 10 times less than remaining tissue.
Due to higher wavelength of transmitted light (more
than 940 nm) most of the photons is transmitted to
the other side of the finger segment and detected by
the photo detector. Another part of the infrared light
is reflected by the tissues and remaining components
of the blood. The PPG signal has been obtained in
accordance with the pulsatile component of the
arterial blood flow. But this waveform contains both
dc component (due to tissue, vein, artery) and ac
component (due to pulsatile nature of arterial blood).
For getting glucose level in blood, there is a need to
focus more on the ac component of received PPG
waveform. This can be done with the help of the
equation
ΔODλ = log [1+ (ΔIλ(ti)/Iλ(ti+1))
Where, ΔODλ is the optical density difference
between time ti and ti+1. ΔIλ (ti) is pulsatile
component at ti and Iλ(ti+1) is the intensity of light at
ti+1.
Light transport theory describes light attenuation as:
I=I0-μeffL
Where, I is the reflected light intensity, I0 is the
incident light intensity and L is the length of optical
path inside the tissue. Attenuation of light inside
thetissue depends on the coefficient known as
effective attenuation coefficient (μeff) which is
defined as,
μeff = √3μa(μa+μs)
The absorption coefficient μa is described as the
probability of absorption of photons inside tissue per
unit path length and is given by:
μa = 2.303 ε C
Where, ε is the molar extinction coefficient and C is
the concentration of glucose contained in blood.
Figure 4. Block diagram of designed model
The block diagram given below represents the
general procedure to get the estimated glucose value
on the computer. The infrared rays are emitted on
the fingertip with the help of IR LED and the
absorbed radiations are detected using Photo
detector. The signal is then sent to the signal
conditioning circuit where it is passed through the
High Pass filter (HPF). Signals are filtered at 2.3 Hz.
Then the next stage is Non-Inverting Amplifier
where the signals are amplified. The amplified
signals are then given as input to the
Microcontroller. With further calculations, a look up
table was formed. Further regression analysis is
performed on the measured data which will be
helpful in forming a linear equation which gives us
the value of estimated Glucose on the computer.
The experimental circuit is set up using
near Infrared (NIR) spectral range to measure the
blood glucose. The data recorded show differences
of voltage value related to their blood-glucose
alterations. To improve accuracy of the sensor finger
cap is made so that other lights will not enter and the
designed sensor will give accurate result. This
voltage variation is so feeble and additional signal
conditioning stages are necessary to convert it into a
recognizable form by microcontroller Arduino Uno
R3. This signal conditioning part will consist of
filtering stage to filter out noise and amplification
stage. Next Arduino Uno R3 will convert amplified
analog voltage to digital value. Regression analysis
is also done by microcontroller and predicted
glucose value subsequently displayed on computer.
Figure 5. Filter and Amplifier circuit
As shown in the figure 4.7, operational amplifier IC
LM 324 having single supply quad operational
amplifier is selected for the project as it has low
input offset voltage (3 mV) and high CMRR (80
dB). Gain of 101 and cut off frequency of 2.5 Hz is
designed for filter. For amplification of the sensor
signal, non-inverting amplifier is used; having
required voltage gain is around 101 and suitable
higher input resistance, by using formula for gain.
Voltage Gain Av = 1 + (R4/R5)
Normal pulse rate of human being is varied between
60 to 180 pulses per minute. Therefore, considered
low pass filter of cut off frequency 1 Hz to 3 Hz is
designed to remove high frequency components and
50 Hz power line interference. High pass filter of cut
off frequency 0.5 Hz is used to remove the baseline
drift or low frequency signals and it is given by:
Cut off Frequency Fc = 1 / (2π*R4*C2)
The second stage is non-inverting amplifier with the
gain of 101. Output voltage is connected for the data
acquisition by interfacing the computer by Arduino
Uno R3. The circuit is also simulated using Proteus
software before it is actually implemented on the
breadboard.
 [3] RESULT AND DISCUSSION equation was found out using regression analysis
method:
Constructed system determines a method for the y = 927.89x + 19.811, where x is the value of optical
prediction of Blood-Glucose level for human using density measured from the voltage value obtained
non-invasive methods. By using the voltage value as and y is the Glucose Concentration in mg/dl.
X in regression equation, glucose concentration can
be predicted. Dataset on sample basis is formed
using prick method and voltage value from the
prototype and a look up table is formed. This is used
in forming the equation of the best fit curve which is
then used to estimate the glucose concentration. The
regression analysis is carried out using NFTOOL in
MATLAB and also with the help of Ms-Excel. The
correlation coefficient R is found out. The value of
R close to 1 depicts a more accurate result and its
value close to 0 depicts less accurate result.
Figure 6. Regression analysis using MS Excel
Table 1. Lookup table for glucose concentration
The data obtained from intensity variation study
shows that there exists a correlation between the
S.No Max Min Glucose
variation in voltage intensity and glucose level. The
Peak Peak (mg/dl)
polynomial equation relation between voltage value
(V) (V)
and glucose concentrations, glucose concentration
1. 2.825 2.307 82 to be measured by this method are predicted in the
2. 2.835 2.297 86 above table. Results are tabulated and statistical
analysis is done for validation of this estimation of
3. 2.639 1.955 107 the glucose concentration.

4. 2.859 2.297 104

5. 2.776 2.366 76
6. 2.707 2.322 72
7. 2.835 2.297 83
8. 2.786 1.955 113
9. 3.226 2.199 133
Figure 7. Regression analysis using MATLAB ANN
10. 2.884 2.346 83
The voltages are found out with the help of
11. 2.835 2.199 107 Photoplethysmograph which is obtained with the
help of the Pulse Sensor (HRM-2511) put on the
12. 2.688 2.297 74 fingertip. The graph obtained is shown below.
13. 2.932 2.272 115
14. 3.201 2.297 125
15. 2.859 2.395 77
16. 3.030 2.356 101

By using above table, we can perform the

second order polynomial regression analysis. The
 [4] CONCLUTION Communication, Artificial Intelligence in
Medicine 53 (2011) 127-138
Thus the prototype for the Non-Invasive
Measurement of Blood Glucose was designed and [5] D. X. Guo, Y.Z. Shang, R.Peng, S.S.Yong,
implemented using the reflection spectroscopic X.A.Wang, “Non-Invasive Blood Glucose
method. This device offers several advantages such Measurement Based on NIR Spectrums
as reduced pain while measuring Blood Glucose, and Double ANN Analysis”, Journal of
reduced risk of spreading of infection, Less Biosciences and Medicines, 2015, 3, 42-48
recurring cost over the conventional Invasive [6] G. D. Jindal, T.S. Ananthakrishnan, Rajesh
method for Blood Glucose Measurement. Kumar Jain, Vineet Sinha, A. R. Kini &
Determination of cardiac related pulsatile voltage Alaka K Deshpande, “Non-Invasive
changes and subsequently conducting regression Assessment of Blood Glucose by
analysis for the estimation of Blood glucose level Photoplethysmography”, IETE Journal of
were carried out successfully. In the prototype Research, Vol 54, No.3, May-June 2008,
developed, an IR LED of peak wavelength of 940 ISSN: 0377-2063
nm was chosen with fingertip as the body site for the
measurement of Blood Glucose. A low cost device [7] Vasanthadev Surya Kala S., Shankar K.
was designed and implemented on the printed circuit M., Shanthi Prince, “Blood Glucose
board and the results were validated using different Estimation by Non-Invasive Optical
statistical methods. The correlation coefficient Technique”, IJCTA, 9(15), 2016, PP.
between the cardiac related pulsatile voltage 7333-7338
intensity and the Glucose value obtained with the [8] Swathi Ramasahayam, Sri Haindavi K,
help of Prick method was found out to be 0.867. Bharat Kavala, Shubhajit Roy Chowdhury,
Therefore, we can conclude that there exists a “Non-Invasive Estimation of Blood
relationship between the predicted glucose and the Glucose using Near Infrared Spectroscopy
voltage value from the sensor. and Double Regression Analysis”, 2013
Seventh International Conference on
Sensing Technology, 978-1-4673-5221-
[5] REFERENCES 5/13, IEEE
[1] Komal Lawand, Shital Patil, Mahesh
Parihar, “Design and Development of
Infrared LED based Non-Invasive Blood
Glucometer”, IEEE INDICON 2015
1570186243, ISSN: 2325-9418
[2] Brince Paul, Melvin P Manuel, Zachariah
C Alex, “Design and Development of Non
Invasive Glucose Measurement System”,
ISPTS, 2012 1st International Symposium,
Pune, India, 7-10 March 2012
[3] Yamakoshi Kenichi, Yamakoshi Y, “Pulse
Glucometry: A new approach for Non
Invasive Blood Glucose Measurement
using Instantaneous Differential Near-
Infrared Spectrophotometry”, Journal of
Biomedical Optics, 11(5), 2006-09
[4] Enric Monte-Moreno, “Non-Invasive
Estimate of Blood Glucose and Blood
Pressure from a Photoplethysmograph by
means of Machine Learning Techniques”,
Department of Signal Theory and