  In this paper we consider the design of wireless queueing network control
policies with special focus on application-dependent service constraints. In
particular we consider streaming traffic induced requirements such as avoiding
buffer underflows, which significantly complicate the control problem compared
to guaranteeing throughput optimality only. Since state-of-the-art approaches
for enforcing minimum buffer constraints in broadcast networks are not suitable
for application in general networks we argue for a cost function based
approach, which combines throughput optimality with flexibility regarding
service constraints. New theoretical stability results are presented and
various candidate cost functions are investigated concerning their suitability
for use in wireless networks with streaming media traffic. Furthermore we show
how the cost function based approach can be used to aid wireless network design
with respect to important system parameters. The performance is demonstrated
using numerical simulations.
