AbstractThe INTELSAT time‐division multiple‐access (TDMA) system, scheduled to begin operation in 1984, will be used with INTELSAT V and post‐INTELSAT V satellites. This system will operate on a 2ms time frame, employ digital speech interpolation (DSI) techniques for baseband processing, and will permit hopping between transponders. Four reference stations will provide timing and control information for each network.This paper describes the approach taken by INTELSAT in the development of burst time plans (BTPs) for the TDMA/DSI system. Network control procedures, burst scheduling and BTP information dissemination are also discussed. The software that has been developed to generate the BTPs and the associated master time plans and condensed time plans is also desc