Confused with 128-bits AES round numbers
So my question is: it says 10 cycles, but does that mean that the initial round is performed once, the normal rounds 9 times, and the final round also once? Because the expanded key is 176-bytes, so the addroundkey function can be used 176/16 = 11 times.


For the 128-bit AES, that is correct.

InitialRound, which consists of AddRoundKey is performed once.

Rounds, which consist of SubBytes, ShiftRows, MixColumns, AddRoundKey is performed nine times.

Final Round, which consists of SubBytes, ShiftRows and AddRoundKey is performed once.

Also, you might want to check out this two flash animations which offer great insight into how 128-bit Rijndael (the cipher AES is based on) works and also allows you to view the intermediate results as the cipher progresses.