https://github.com/au-ts/lionsos
> LionsOS is aimed at embedded, IoT and cyberphysical systems and is designed to be formally verifiable, adaptable to a wide class of use cases in the target domain, while at the same time setting the benchmark for performance of microkernel-based operating systems. We aim to achieve all three goals by a highly modular yet ruthlessly performance-oriented design and strict adherence to the time-honoured KISS principle.
The term is favored by DARPA over any of its alternatives; seL4 received DARPA funding, and was adopted by DARPA projects, so it's not surprising that they'd use the associated term. It's no worse than other terms in the embedded systems world, and communicates the intended use cases to the most likely users.
Basically, if TrendMicro builds you a bunch of infrastructure to optimize the power grid, it will be described as consisting of Intelligent Electronic Devices. If Collins Aerospace builds the exact same infrastructure, it will be described as consisting of Cyber Physical Systems.
Factory equipment, vehicles, drones, power grids, medical robots, HVAC, … the list goes on.
After reading the Wikipedia page and a couple corporate pages about cyberphysical, I think it looks like it’s more about rebranding existing systems that contain interacting heterogenous elements with different RT needs, rather than introducing fundamentally new systems methodologies or technologies. It kinda reminds me of Agile, where a shift in mindset and terminology was hyped way more than any legitimate improvement in the underlying systems being built, and engineering “Agile products” became so important for some businesses.
Nah, it's a term used in academia.