On a family of run length limited, block decodable codes to prevent payload-induced jitter in Controller Area Networks

•A family of codes to prevent jitter in Controller Area Networks is proposed.•It was proved that the codes are optimal under typical embedded system constraints.•A software implementation of the encoder and decoder modules has been carried out.•The implementation is portable, compact, fast, and fully deterministic.

Controller Area Networks (CAN) adopt bit stuffing at the physical layer, thus introducing a frame length variability that may adversely affect sensing and actuation jitter. One way to mitigate this issue is to encode the payload by means of a suitable run length limited code, before transmission.In this paper, a family of these codes is defined and thoroughly analyzed from the theoretical point of view, showing its optimality within a set of performance and footprint-related constraints typical of contemporary embedded systems. Experimental results confirm that the proposed technique is amenable to an efficient and deterministic software-based implementation.