A system to monitor and to reporting a status of assets on an aircraft, comprising: a plurality of RFID tags (16, 18), each RFID tag (16, 18) affixed to a particular asset and containing digitally stored information about the particular asset, wherein at least one of the RFID tags is an active tag, wherein the active tag is connected to a power source, wherein the active tag is connected to an energy harvester, wherein the energy harvester is effective to harvest energy from a light source, wherein the energy harvester is a solar cell and at least a portion of the particular asset adjacent the solar cell is light transmitting, wherein the asset is a placard, wherein the solar cell is placed on a back side of the placard and is placed at a location where back lighting from the aircraft can be harvested and the solar cell also converts ambient light passed through the placard; a plurality of RFID readers mounted to said aircraft and positioned such that each one of the plurality of RFID tags (16, 18) is within communication range with at least one RFID reader; a data delivery system effective to digitally transmit information from the plurality of RFID readers to a data collection system; a secure interface disposed between the data collection system and a communication system; and the communication system effective to transmit the information to one or more of a flight crew and a ground crew. a plurality of RFID tags (16, 18), each RFID tag (16, 18) affixed to a particular asset and containing digitally stored information about the particular asset, wherein at least one of the RFID tags is an active tag, wherein the active tag is connected to a power source, wherein the active tag is connected to an energy harvester, wherein the energy harvester is effective to harvest energy from a light source, wherein the energy harvester is a solar cell and at least a portion of the particular asset adjacent the solar cell is light transmitting, wherein the asset is a placard, wherein the solar cell is placed on a back side of the placard and is placed at a location where back lighting from the aircraft can be harvested and the solar cell also converts ambient light passed through the placard; a plurality of RFID readers mounted to said aircraft and positioned such that each one of the plurality of RFID tags (16, 18) is within communication range with at least one RFID reader; a data delivery system effective to digitally transmit information from the plurality of RFID readers to a data collection system; a secure interface disposed between the data collection system and a communication system; and the communication system effective to transmit the information to one or more of a flight crew and a ground crew. a plurality of RFID readers mounted to said aircraft and positioned such that each one of the plurality of RFID tags (16, 18) is within communication range with at least one RFID reader; a data delivery system effective to digitally transmit information from the plurality of RFID readers to a data collection system; a secure interface disposed between the data collection system and a communication system; and the communication system effective to transmit the information to one or more of a flight crew and a ground crew.