A system to monitor and to reporting a status of assets on an aircraft, comprising: a plurality of RFID tags , each RFID tag 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 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 , each RFID tag 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 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 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. <EOS>