Characteristics of Automata

The characteristics of automata are:

1. Input: At each of the discrete instants of time t₁, t₂, … , t_m to the input. values I₁, I₂, …, I_p each of which can take a finite number of fixed values from the input alphabet ∑, are applied to the input side of the model shown in below figure:

2. Output: O₁, O₂, …, O_q are the outputs of the model, each of which. can take a finite number of fixed values from an output O.

3. States: At any instant of time the automaton can be in one of the states q₁, q₂, …, q_n

4. State relation: The next stage of an automaton at any instant in time is determined by the present state and the present input.

5. Output relation: The output is related to either state only or to both the input and the state. It should be noted that at any instant in time the automaton is in some state. On ‘reading’ an input symbol, the automaton moves to the next state which is given by the state relation.