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Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 259 - 267
https://doi.org/10.38088/jise.1717959

Abstract

With the rapid advancement of digitalization and automation, modern vehicles, especially in the light commercial segment, have evolved into complex, interconnected platforms resembling mobile computing systems. This transformation has increased the dependency on in-vehicle communication networks and, as a result, exposed them to a wider range of cybersecurity threats. A fundamental aspect of the proposed method is the use of a lightweight CNN model specific for deployment in embedded automotive environments with limited computational resources and optimized for efficiency. Operating on low-power hardware platforms such as edge ECUs, the tiny device developed in this study works effectively unlike conventional deep learning architectures seeking high processing power and memory. Despite its minimal computational footprint, the model is capable of accurately distinguishing between legitimate and spoofed communication traffic, as well as detecting a variety of attack forms that target different CAN protocol components. The performance metrics of the model further highlight its effectiveness, achieving a ROC AUC Score of 0.9887, an Accuracy of 0.9887, a Precision of 0.9825, a Recall of 0.9952, and an F1-Score of 0.9888. Particularly for real-time on-vehicle intrusion detection systems, this harmony between performance and efficiency makes the strategy especially important. Just as importantly is the introduction of a specifically produced hybrid dataset, which is fundamental for system evaluation and training. The dataset aggregates synthetic generated attack scenarios with real-world spoofing, injection, and denial-of- service (DoS) conditions using actual CAN traffic acquired from a J1939-compliant light commercial vehicle. Standard 11-bit identities combined with industrial communication protocols help the dataset to reflect real-world vehicle dynamics across several ECUs under various scenarios. The model can learn fine-grained patterns often missed by conventional rule-based or manually engineered approaches by means of the image-like transformation of CAN messages—preserving bit-level and temporal information. In intelligent transportation systems, the lightweight CNN architecture and the strong dataset combine to create a scalable and deployable IDS framework that can improve in-vehicle cybersecurity.

Thanks

We would want to sincerely thank you to Karsan for their essential contribution in allowing the data collecting process. Particularly, we would want to thank Mr. M. Alper BALIM, E&E Vehicle Software Engineering Administrator, and Mr. Nurettin ÖZEKMEKCİ, Manager of E&E Design Engineering, whose priceless direction, insights, and ongoing support have greatly helped this research to be successful. We also want to thank the whole Karsan R&D team for their kind cooperation, test vehicle preparation, and guarantee of access to the required tools and systems for experimental use. Their dedication and transparency made it feasible to create an industrial-grade, realistic dataset and to do all stages of this work under reasonable, dependable surroundings.

References

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There are 20 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Deep Learning
Journal Section Research Articles
Authors

Emre Tüfekcioğlu 0000-0002-1897-2460

Cemal Hanilçi 0000-0002-9174-0367

Hakan Gürkan 0000-0002-7008-4778

Early Pub Date September 30, 2025
Publication Date October 6, 2025
Submission Date June 11, 2025
Acceptance Date July 7, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Volume: 9 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Tüfekcioğlu, E., Hanilçi, C., & Gürkan, H. (2025). Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles. Journal of Innovative Science and Engineering, 9(2), 259-267. https://doi.org/10.38088/jise.1717959
AMA Tüfekcioğlu E, Hanilçi C, Gürkan H. Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles. JISE. September 2025;9(2):259-267. doi:10.38088/jise.1717959
Chicago Tüfekcioğlu, Emre, Cemal Hanilçi, and Hakan Gürkan. “Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles”. Journal of Innovative Science and Engineering 9, no. 2 (September 2025): 259-67. https://doi.org/10.38088/jise.1717959.
EndNote Tüfekcioğlu E, Hanilçi C, Gürkan H (September 1, 2025) Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles. Journal of Innovative Science and Engineering 9 2 259–267.
IEEE E. Tüfekcioğlu, C. Hanilçi, and H. Gürkan, “Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles”, JISE, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 259–267, 2025, doi: 10.38088/jise.1717959.
ISNAD Tüfekcioğlu, Emre et al. “Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles”. Journal of Innovative Science and Engineering 9/2 (September2025), 259-267. https://doi.org/10.38088/jise.1717959.
JAMA Tüfekcioğlu E, Hanilçi C, Gürkan H. Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles. JISE. 2025;9:259–267.
MLA Tüfekcioğlu, Emre et al. “Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles”. Journal of Innovative Science and Engineering, vol. 9, no. 2, 2025, pp. 259-67, doi:10.38088/jise.1717959.
Vancouver Tüfekcioğlu E, Hanilçi C, Gürkan H. Lightweight CNN-Based Intrusion Detection for Automotive CAN Bus in Light Commercial Vehicles. JISE. 2025;9(2):259-67.


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