Nondeterministic fuzzy automata

Abstract: Fuzzy automata have long been accepted as a generalization of nondeterministic finite automata. A closer examination, however, shows that the fundamental property---nondeterminism---in nondeterministic finite automata has not been well embodied in the generalization. In this paper, we introduce nondeterministic fuzzy automata with or without $\el$-moves and fuzzy languages recognized by them. Furthermore, we prove that (deterministic) fuzzy automata, nondeterministic fuzzy automata, and nondeterministic fuzzy automata with $\el$-moves are all equivalent in the sense that they recognize the same class of fuzzy languages.