# Unsupervised Time Series Extraction from Controller Area Network Payloads

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.03078 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03078/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 5 Apr 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Detecting message modification attacks on the CAN bus with Temporal Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.08692/) (2021)
- [ByCAN: Reverse Engineering Controller Area Network (CAN) Messages from Bit to Byte Level](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.09265/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper introduces a method for unsupervised tokenization of Controller Area Network (CAN) data payloads using bit level transition analysis and a greedy grouping strategy. The primary goal of this proposal is to extract individual time series which have been concatenated together before transmission onto a vehicle's CAN bus. This process is necessary because the documentation for how to properly extract data from a network may not always be available; passenger vehicle CAN configurations are protected as trade secrets. At least one major manufacturer has also been found to deliberately misconfigure their documented extraction methods. Thus, this proposal serves as a critical enabler for robust third-party security auditing and intrusion detection systems which do not rely on manufacturers sharing confidential information.