The kla2 embedded kernel provides pre-emptive, prioritized function calling, pipes, and timer services in a small chunk of code, using only a single stack and a periodic interrupt, signal, or message. Prioritized functions may be invoked from interrupt routines or from background threads.

Kla2 can be embedded into a bare microcontroller board, or made a task in an existing operating system. Kla2 has been extensively tested, and all known significant bugs squashed.

Kla2 has six software components:
* an error handler
* a pipe manager
* a prioritized function manager
* a timer manager
* an interrupt manager
* a simple trace facility

Kla2 excels in organizing, without a full-blown RTOS, systems in which different event or data streams move at different rates. It is useful for multi-rate signal processing, state-driven communications, and simultaneous control of a variety of devices.